Federalism

Federalism is a mode of government that advocates a weakened central government and stronger regional governments. In federal governments, regional sub-governments have their own elected leaders/governors and legislatures, and they make their own laws, at times revised by the central government. In the United States, federalists support states' rights and decentralization, and they oppose all laws passed by the federal government without the consent of the states, including the abolition of slavery and the legalization of same-sex marriages. In some countries, federalism is adopted in order to grant autonomy to different cultural or ethnic groups, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which the Bosniaks and Croats live in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Serbs live in the Republika Srpska. Federalism is the opposite of unitarianism, in which central governments hold all of the power.